By Carl Goenner / Sports Director / @carl_goennerpxp / St. Cloud, Minn.

-The St. Cloud State men’s hockey team defeated the Colorado College Tigers 6-5 in overtime on Friday.  Cooper Wylie scored the game winning goal and Gavyn Thoreson led the game with three points.  

The first period began very slowly as both teams tried to gain the upperhand.

Colorado’s second shot on goal came from Philippe Blais-Savoie who netted the first goal of the game at the 5:01 mark of the first period.  The goal gave the Tigers momentum and they used it to control the pace of the game.  Colorado College put shots on net and won draws in the offensive end to maintain the pressure on the Huskies.  With 7 minutes and 12 seconds remaining in the first period, Connor Hvidston passed to Drew Montgomery who scored to give CC a 2-0 lead.  

Colorado’s goal woke up St. Cloud State, who forced turnovers and held the puck.   After penalty’s on CC’s Scott Fisher and SCSU’s Gavyn Thoreson, the two teams played four on four for the rest of the period.   The Huskies couldn’t get past the Tiger Goaltender Jackson Unger and the first period ended with SCSU trailing 0-2.

The second period began with 49 seconds of four on four play but neither team found the back of the net.  St. Cloud Tanner Henricks got SCSU on the board just 5:52 into the second frame.

Henricks skated towards the net from the blue line, weaved past two defenders and snuck a puck through Unger’s five hole.  A penalty on Ryan Koering then gave SCSU a powerplay but the Huskies were unsuccessful on the opportunity.  

With seven minutes and ten seconds remaining in the second period, Klavs Veinbergs netted another goal for CC giving them a 3-1 lead.  Three and a half minutes later, Tyson Gross set up Austin Burnevick who buried a puck in the net, making the score 3-2, Tigers.  Shortly after, Nolan Roed tied the game up with Gavyn Thoreson earning the assist. Brett Link scored another goal with 39 seconds left in the frame to help Colorado College take a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

The Third period began very fast and at the 2:44 mark St. Cloud State tied it up.  Nolan Roed shot a puck at the net and Ryan Rosborough tapped in the rebound to tie the game at 4. Exactly two minutes later, Brandon Lisowsky picked the top left corner of the net, scoring to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.  Gavyn Thoreson then tied the game once again with 8:15 left in the period and the game headed to overtime, tied at 5.

Tyson Gross won the opening draw in overtime and the Huskies controlled the puck.  Just 15 seconds into the extra frame, Cooper Wylie scored the game winning goal, helping the Huskies to a 6-5 comeback win.

Coach Larson Quote: “I thought, offensively it’s the best we’ve played in quite a while.” We generated alot of chances, alot of o-zone time.” “I thought we had a lot of jump and a lot of energy.”

Photo credit: Bill Prout.